“Okay, move it to storage and have it prepared for tomorrow. Also, I the guards on the western part of the square need to be rotated out. It’s past their shift change and make sure that someone checks on Ephe’s spies.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Now that one spy that got close, did we let him get a look at the building?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“The wards were turned off, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. They won’t be aware of them.”
“Okay, for the next group. Have the wards turned back on, but the defense shutters raised. I want this place to look like a plain wooden building, clear?”
“As crystal, ma’am.”
“Thank you. Damn it, Shaggy! Get in here and help!”
Shaggy rubbed a hand down his face. “But Levy! It’s so damn boring. Nothing but reports and shipment receipts. Listening to people bitching about their store problems. It’s too much.”
Levy slapped the back of his head hard. Shaggy was surprised when his head actually pitched forward roughly. Turning, he saw that Levy’s hand was glowing purple. She glared at him even as she rubbed her hand.
“This is your job. You need to look after your people.”
“Hey, my people are out patrolling as we speak. Vick just caught a bunch of thugs trying to set up shop. They were in some of the Quinica’s old buildings.”
Levy grimaced. “What did he do?”
“He killed them, duh.”
“Shaggy…”
“What?”
“We could’ve used the tithe the gang would’ve brought in. We get them to work for us, make them kick up thirty percent, and we have a buffer at our western edge.”
“Oh! Yeah, that would’ve been a good idea. See? See how better at this you are than me? I’d just fuck it up.”
“Well, I can’t stay here. I have my own shit to deal with across the portal. Also, the forums have confirmed the location of Korrigan’s house. So we have our entry point for the Raid. I want to shore up things on my side.”
Shaggy sputtered. He had tried to go over the various reports and streams of information at the War Table. But it was so boring. Not to mention Slink had suddenly found his blood-thirst, so the boy was off patrolling for once. Of course, the fact that Ephemara was the one leading the patrol probably helped. So it would just be Shaggy, alone, with the War Table and Slink and Ephemara’s runners and messengers.
Being a giant switchboard did not seem appealing to him at all. Levy must have read the look on his face. Because she left the table and walked over to Shaggy, placing a cool hand against his cheek. Her hand caressed up his jawline and to his ear. Where she grabbed and twisted the ear painfully. Shaggy winced and ignored the pain as Levy dragged him toward the War Table.
“Love, grow up and handle your business. You literally run one IRL. You can handle paperwork.”
“Ow ow ow ow ow OW! Okay. Okay! Jeez, Levy, what the hell? I don’t want my game life to turn into my real life, okay?”
“It’s just till Vlad or Ren spawn back, you big baby. Now handle your shit.” Levy blew him a kiss and walked off as the screen came alive in front of Shaggy.
He grumbled, but quickly glanced through the information provided. The first floor needed repairs from a bar fight. The second floor was an absolute mess. Apparently, a bunch of criminals weren’t the best when it came to hygiene. Then the third floor was… not being used?
“What the hell is that about?” Shaggy muttered.
“Sir?” asked a nearby Lackey.
Shaggy looked around and found five of them all looking at him. Most with bemused looks. They had all just watched one of their leaders get his ear pulled and forced to work. He’d have to kill a few later. Just for security’s sake. He gave a feral grin, which made most of the Lackey gulp and look away. Those who didn’t, Shaggy tried to memorize. It was always good to know who in your crew had spine.
Turning to the one who spoke, Shaggy said. “The third floor. Do we have plans for that? What are we doing?”
“Offices and executive rooms, sir,” said the pale white alien with short horns. “However, the resources have yet to make to here yet. So we are on hold.”
Shaggy nodded. “Gotcha.”
Going back to the table, he moved away from the bar and looked around the square. Different shops were set up around the perimeter and the War Table brought up their stats. Some were owned by the Legion, so that was almost pure profit. But then there were the NPC run places which kicked up ten percent of their earnings for protection and materials. Shaggy thought that was too small of a cut. But he wasn’t going to undo Slink’s work.
Instead, he expanded the map again. Getting a good look at the surrounding neighborhoods. Little yellow question marks dotted the shacks on their northern front. Shaggy assigned a few Lackeys to each mark and swiped away.
“Uhh, sir?”
“What?”
“Sir, normally we don’t assign full squads to deal with the locals. Most of those are just people curious about our intentions. Especially because we seem to be growing.”
Shaggy nodded. “I know. But we are on a war footing. I don’t want our people moving about unprotected. It may cause some friction with the locals. But better them nervous than our guys dead. Also, we got too many people laying about this place doing nothing. The two gyms are packed full. We need to get them out.”
The pale alien nodded. “Then might I recommend the other standing build orders? We have the resources for the underground jobs. We can continue expanding downward.”
“That IS a good idea.” Shaggy muttered as he swiped through the War Table’s tabs.
He found one that was interesting as he was searching. Room Types. It was an entire tab of the different rooms they could build and the various bonuses they could get. It even had a few subsets of rooms that worked in concert. Such as the War Room and its partner room, the Data Center. Shaggy grinned as he looked at the various effects of the room.
Data Center
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
A Data Center is the nexus for all information processed in the War Room. All the data collated and sent out to the appropriate people. Staffed with many Number Crunchers, or fully automated, the Data Center is a must for any large organization.
Requirements: Met/Required
3/6 computer stations
10/13 Number Cruncher Lackeys
2/8 server farms or magical equivalent
4358/256 metal material
This is exactly what they needed and apparently Slink had already been working toward it. Shaggy rubbed his hands together and went to the Lackey job board. There were already standing orders for all the items listed. So his Lackeys were probably off looking for them. Shaggy sighed. That meant he really was just waiting for the resources. He also needed to use the pencil pushers in the room until they graduated up to Number Crunchers.
Groaning, Shaggy swapped over to the shipments tab and watched their meager fleet of trucks. It wasn’t a hundred percent accurate. But the system gave them a vague idea of where their stuff was. Shaggy bit his lip as he realized he would wait a while.
“Sir?”
“Stop calling me ‘sir.’ Shaggy’s fine. What is it?”
“The work orders, Si- uh, Shaggy.”
“Oh yeah, got it.”
He quickly navigated to the works order and had the boys start digging a second basement. When the options for wall reinforcement came up, he chose metal. That was their most abundant resource. Wood was also pretty big. But they weren’t getting a lot of it anymore. Now that Levy’s trees weren’t growing magically. He set the walls to auto-build as their people dug out the sub-basement and swapped back over to main tab.
“Done. Let’s get the boys moving.”
Almost everyone in the room gave him a nod. Except for a large purple oni in the corner who gave him the stink eye. Shaggy glared back for a few seconds before he realized the issue. Rolling his eyes, Shaggy amended.
“Let’s get the PEOPLE moving. Is that better?”
The purple oni woman smiled a fang-filled smile and hurried to follow directions. Shaggy rolled his eyes and started studying again.
The War Table held a lot of info and that was before he got into the other tabs. Job Board, Lackey List, Resource management, Bar Management, Turf Management, the list went on and on. Shaggy wasn’t going to learn all of it, but he sure needed to get a handle on some. However, he found that an almost insurmountable task. With alarming frequency, the various tabs would glow red. Indicating that there was a problem he had to deal with.
Whether it was medical supplies running low, or people pushing into their territory. It was always something. It reminded Shaggy of playing a Four-X game. He wasn’t running around punching people, but he was ordering his little Lackeys to run around and do it. Issuing build orders and solving weird bar troubles. All the while trying to expand. Which when Shaggy looked at the map, he realized the Legion didn’t actually control much. Not by the War Table’s standards. Just the bar and the surrounding blocks. If they wanted the surrounding area, they would need more locals, and they needed those locals to see them as the ruling faction.
The latter half of that was easy as, aside from the smaller gangs, they were the biggest in the area. So all they needed to do was attract people. Shaggy navigated to the Buildings tab and brought up Entertainment. An extensive list of buildings populated the section. It had everything from casinos, drug dens, brothels, and race tracks. To the more mundane outdoor theaters, cinemas, libraries, and sports stadiums. Shaggy wasn’t sure how a library was entertainment, but to each their own.
Doing away with the more mundane shit, Shaggy started looking into the more illegal establishments. Drug Dens were, of course, out because of Ren. Also, where were they going to source the drugs? That was another headache they didn’t need. So he looked at casinos, brothels and Race tracks. But none of them really spoke to him. Casinos required a lot of overhead and you had to be on the lookout for cheats. Not to mention the specialized staff required. Same for brothels. A race track would’ve been fun, but it required a shit ton of space.
None of the options seemed viable. So Shaggy kept perusing through the list until eventually he got to the end of the ‘criminal section.’ He grit his teeth and, idly, sent one of Ephemara’s spies to deal with a question mark that popped up. Blowing out a breath, he dove into the more mundane entertainment lists. Live theaters, sports arena, music halls, museums. Shaggy growled under his breath. He was extremely annoyed. More so when the damn tabs kept turning red. He stabbed a finger into the menu, sending a squad of Lackeys to deal with a robot incursion.
Swiping back to the entertainment tab, Shaggy’s eyes fell on something that was absolutely perfect. It should’ve been his first choice. It would work, and all they would need was a small building to start. They could even run some kind of restaurant out front and have the actual store in the back. Shaggy grinned as he brought up the requirements for the building he was looking at.
Retro Arcade
Nostalgic for the days when you didn’t have to plug into a game? Want that old tactile feeling of a controller in your palms? Retro Arcades are the premier choice when it comes to experiencing the old in new ways. Everyone needs a break from the monotony. Give them a chance to unwind with the Retro Arcade.
Requirements: Met/ Required
0/4 Arcade Cabinets
0/3 staff
0/1 power source
4322/176 metal material
Shaggy smiled widely as he looked at the squat little building the system had brought it. It was a little small for Shaggy. But it could work. The tricky part was getting cabinets. But he had an idea for that one. He made job postings for Lackey’s interested in working at an Arcade and for an energy source. They needed a generator to power the building. Shaggy supposed they could attach it to the bar. But the purpose of the arcade was to attract new people to the area. So it was better for it to be removed from the building.
“Sir! Shaggy!” said a voice, bringing Shaggy out of the menus to look at the pale horned alien.
The man was looking down at his phone, eyes wide. “Sir, is this job posting real?”
Shaggy scratched his temple. “Yeah. We need entertainment venues to bring people in. So I figured an arcade would do the trick.”
“Sir, I would like to offer my services as an employee for the new establishment.”
Shaggy started, surprised. The man wasn’t crazy excited, but Shaggy could sense the man’s desire to be a part of the arcade. Shrugging, Shaggy nodded.
“Okay, what’s your name and qualifications?”
“Demetrius Skanda, Sir. I have been with the Legion since you first started recruiting. I have served as Slink’s second for a while now. However, I would love the opportunity to branch out.”
Shaggy nodded as he turned back to the war table and brought up Skanda’s Lackey profile.
“You know that building hasn’t even begun yet, right?” Shaggy called over his shoulder.
“Yes, sir.”
Demetrius Skanda
1. Lialian – Level 4
2. Personality – Professional
3. Class – Assistant
4. Loyalty – 75/100
Shaggy closed out the tab and turned back to Skanda. “I can’t promise anything. But I will talk to Slink about it. You are his assistant. I don’t want to step on any toes. But I’ll keep a spot for ya.”
Skanda smiled, revealing a row of sharp teeth. “Thank you, sir. Do you want me to see about the other candidates?”
Shaggy snorted. “If we get any.”
“Uhh, sir?” Skanda said, pointing over his shoulder.
Shaggy looked around the taller man to see that a bunch of Lackeys were crowded at the door, peering in. All of them looked excited as Shaggy glanced at them. Several waved their hands excitedly and shouted. A barrage of noise filled the room and Shaggy sighed. He gave Skanda the okay sign and turned back to the War Table. Remembering another aspect to his plan, Shaggy called.
“Skanda! Get someone to send Sylus and Roald my way.”
“Yes sir. Right away.”
Shaggy sighed as he shifted his Arcade plans to the back burner and started dealing with the small fires that had cropped up while he was plotting. The Bar was requesting more shipments, store owners were asking for better materials, and Lackeys were rushing to deal with the little golden question marks. Shaggy shook his head and let his fingers tap away at the War Table Interface. It was absolutely not how he intended to spend his game time. But, and he would never tell anyone this, it was kind of fun and a little relaxing to just sit back and work on the organization.